Advanced Recon Commando
2,500 per GGW Advanced Recon Commandos—also known as Advanced Recon Clone troopers or simply ARC troopers—were an elite variant of clone trooper in the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars. Although much rarer than other clones on the galactic scale, they were also among the most skilled soldiers in the galaxy. History The first attempt at genetic alterations failed, resulting in the Null-class ARC troopers. The Nulls were the first clones of Fett made by the Kaminoans, and served as prototypes for the Grand Army. Only 6 of the 12 Null prototypes survived the embryonic stage of development. Kaminoans succeeded in their second attempt at creating stable clone soldiers, generating 100 ARC troopers, designated the Alpha-class. Following the First Battle of Kamino, the ARCs were integrated into parts of the Grand Army of the Republic. As the ARCs took their place in the larger world, they developed distinct personalities due to their unaltered nature; some gave themselves names, others formed relationships outside the GAR. Once integrated, Advanced Recon Commandos worked as solo operatives or in small squads led by ARC captains, either performing self-contained missions or supplementing larger Grand Army of the Republic operations. Training Program Though only 106 Advanced Recon Commandos of the Alpha and Null classes were originally produced, they were able to pass on the ARC tradition to new officers after the death of Jango Fett in 22 BBY. Following his escape from Rattatak in early 20 BBY, Alpha-17 "Alpha", one of the earliest ARCs, returned to Kamino to flash-train the second generation of clone trooper commanders in the same manner that Fett had trained him. This Alpha training program was designed to equip clone trooper commanders with similar training to that of the Alpha class. During this training, the ARC trained clone commanders were taught to think more creatively and to bring out their independence and tactical decisiveness. They soon became some of the most outspoken and independent clones, and those who graduated Alpha-17's program were awarded the title of ARC commander, becoming a tight fraternity of elite Charecteristics ARC troopers were known to be fiercely independent, innately creative, and physical superior to any other contemporary soldiers. This, combined with their training in advanced weapons and vehicles, made them veritable one-man armies. They normally developed distinct personalities due to their unaltered nature; most gave themselves names, others formed relationships outside the GAR. Ranks * Yellow—Commander * Red—Captain * Blue—Lieutenant * Green—Sergeant About Ranks * ARC commander: Although some ARC trooper captains were promoted to the rank of commander and wore yellow ARC trooper armor, most of the officers that were labeled as "ARC Commander" were not originally Alpha-class ARC troopers. These ARC commanders were regular clone officer commanders that were specially trained by Alpha-17 to instill more independence, aggressiveness, and to think outside the box. * ARC captain: These ARCs had authority over subordinate ARCs, commandos, and standard clone soldiers. The few times that squads of ARC troopers worked together, an ARC captain was usually in charge, serving under a Jedi General. * ARC lieutenant: This was the first and most common ARC rank during the Clone Wars. Lieutenant ARC troopers fought in various battles including the Battle of Muunilinst. * ARC sergeant: The only known ARC sergeant was the highly independent Null ARC Trooper N-12 A'den. Despite his low rank, as an ARC trooper N-12 had a great deal of autonomy as he worked in Clone Intelligence. Equipment * DC-17 hand blaster * miniature flamethrower * WESTAR-M5 blaster rifle * DC-15A blaster rifle * DC-15S * Fragmentation grenades6 * Reverse-polarity pulse grenade * EMP grenades * Ion grenades6 * Ammunition * Bandoleers * HX2 antipersonnel mines Special Equipment: * Z-6 rotary blaster cannon * PLX-1 portable missile launcher * Reciprocating quad blaster Category:Clone Trooper variants